Chapter Ninety: Back on Berk
The old woman sighed and turned her back on the seas.
There was no wind.
There hadn't been for a whole week now.
The people were getting anxious.
No wonder. Vikings were a sea-tribe. They weren't used to be stuck on land.
From her hut so far up over the village, Gouthi had the perfect overview over everything.
She turned back to the bowl of water that stood on a chair next to the door.
Mumbling ancient words and moving her left hand in weaving patterns over the water she watched the still surface with half-closed eyes.
Suddenly the water turned black, before and image appeared in the water.
She saw a boat, cutting through the waves, and a boy that stood at the heck and watched what he had left behind.
He was taller and stronger than last she'd seen him, when she'd chosen him to be the winner of 'Dragon-Training' and sealing his fate doing so, just like it had been the will of the gods.
As village-elder and healer Gouthi was not just very respected and on the same level as the chief, if not even higher, no she stood also in contact with the gods, reading their wills and making sure they were pleased and, as a consequence, made sure the village was protected by the gods.
But that also meant having secrets and having to lie and not bring able to prevent horrible things from happening.
From the moment Hiccup had been born Gouthi had followed the gods instruction.
Although born too early Hiccup could have been healthy, had she been allowed to heal him properly. Instead she had to pretend and see the babe suffer and struggle to survive. She half wished he'd die. But the babe had been so strong.
Survived against all expectations, through fires and raids, the loss of a mother and the distance of a father, he had survived all that and more.
Being weak Hiccup had a horrible childhood. Teased and shunned out, the laugh of the village.
Gouthi suffered with the intelligent boy and wanted to make it up to him but she wasn't allowed.
She had to stand at the sidelines and watch how things unfolded.
She'd always know what Hiccup was destined to do.
She didn't know how and when he started to exceed all expectations in dragon-training she started to get suspicious.
The day he'd not come to his final test had been the dreadful truth for her.
Young Hiccup had finally taken the last step towards his greatness but also towards his doom.
She'd continued playing her role, comforting Stoick, being the wide advisor but her heart never stopped aching.
And now…now he was returning.
How would Stoick react?
She knew after Alvins message (something she was upset about till today) Stoick and Gobber had become suspicious.
Stoick had always known his son couldn't really be gone.
He maybe had been a bad parent but a parent knows when their only child is dead or not.
The rest of the village might be satisfied with the little evidence of Hiccups death that they had found but Gouthi knew that his 'death' or disappearance wasn't clear.
She splashed trough the bowl with her hand and the image of the matured Hiccup on the deck of a ship disappeared.
She looked to the east.
Darkness was creeping closer over the horizon.
She felt it.
Gouthi closed her eyes.